I can get the Sipix Pocket Printer A6 installed in CUPS and it will
get about 20% through a CUPS test page, but it always stops in the
same spot and the LED just blinks. Has anyone gotten one of these
going? I've tried two of them and I'm using a USB->serial converter.

http://www.linuxprinting.org/show_printer.cgi?recnum=SiPix-Pocket_Printer_A6

- Grant

> I can get the Sipix Pocket Printer A6 installed in CUPS and it will
> get about 20% through a CUPS test page, but it always stops in the
> same spot and the LED just blinks. *Has anyone gotten one of these
> going? *I've tried two of them and I'm using a USB->serial converter.
>
> http://www.linuxprinting.org/show_printer.cgi?recnum=SiPix-Pocket_Printer_A6
>
> - Grant

Alternatively, does anyone know of another portable printer that might
work for boarding passes? The price is right on this other one, but
it only prints 2" x 3" and I could see that being too small to read:

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?oc=pz310sap

- Grant

On Sat, 6 Feb 2010 11:25:11 -0800, Grant wrote:

> I can get the Sipix Pocket Printer A6 installed in CUPS and it will
> get about 20% through a CUPS test page, but it always stops in the
> same spot and the LED just blinks.

Does it do the same with standard printing jobs? I ask because I have an
Epson printer that failed on the CUPS test page, no matter what I tried,
but then I tried printing a photo from KDE and it worked perfectly.


--
Neil Bothwick

A man wrapped up in himself makes a very small package.

>> I can get the Sipix Pocket Printer A6 installed in CUPS and it will
>> get about 20% through a CUPS test page, but it always stops in the
>> same spot and the LED just blinks.
>
> Does it do the same with standard printing jobs? I ask because I have an
> Epson printer that failed on the CUPS test page, no matter what I tried,
> but then I tried printing a photo from KDE and it worked perfectly.

It works! The thing just needed new batteries. For anyone else
reading this, flashing LED = replace batteries.

It has a few problems:

1. The printer doesn't show up in Print dialogs. It shows up in
localhost:631 and prints the test page and via lpr. Why wouldn't it
show up in the Print dialogs? Is it because it's a serial printer?

2. I'm using a USB->serial converter and I get a permissions error
when trying to print unless I chmod /dev/ttyUSB0. The file shows up
before chmod as:

crw-rw---- 1 root uucp

The problem with chmod is it resets after unplug/plug. My user is in
the uucp group. How can I enable printing after unplug/plug without
chmod?

3. lpr doesn't work unless I set:

# export CUPS_SERVER=localhost

which resets after reboot. This wouldn't really be a problem if I
could get #1 fixed above because then I could use the Print dialogs
instead of lpr.

4. The printer feeds a lot of paper before it starts to print. Should
that be fixed in the .upp or .ppd?

5. Quality isn't great, but there's probably not much to do about that.

- Grant

>>> I can get the Sipix Pocket Printer A6 installed in CUPS and it will
>>> get about 20% through a CUPS test page, but it always stops in the
>>> same spot and the LED just blinks.
>>
>> Does it do the same with standard printing jobs? I ask because I have an
>> Epson printer that failed on the CUPS test page, no matter what I tried,
>> but then I tried printing a photo from KDE and it worked perfectly.
>
> It works! *The thing just needed new batteries. *For anyone else
> reading this, flashing LED = replace batteries.
>
> It has a few problems:
>
> 1. The printer doesn't show up in Print dialogs. *It shows up in
> localhost:631 and prints the test page and via lpr. *Why wouldn't it
> show up in the Print dialogs? *Is it because it's a serial printer?
>
> 2. I'm using a USB->serial converter and I get a permissions error
> when trying to print unless I chmod /dev/ttyUSB0. *The file shows up
> before chmod as:
>
> crw-rw---- 1 root uucp
>
> The problem with chmod is it resets after unplug/plug. *My user is in
> the uucp group. *How can I enable printing after unplug/plug without
> chmod?
>
> 3. lpr doesn't work unless I set:
>
> # export CUPS_SERVER=localhost
>
> which resets after reboot. *This wouldn't really be a problem if I
> could get #1 fixed above because then I could use the Print dialogs
> instead of lpr.
>
> 4. The printer feeds a lot of paper before it starts to print. *Should
> that be fixed in the .upp or .ppd?
>
> 5. Quality isn't great, but there's probably not much to do about that.
>
> - Grant

I should include info about how I got it to work. Just follow the
Gentoo Printing Guide and additionally emerge foomatic-filters-ppds
(if it is not already pulled in by cups) and psutils. After adding
the printer at localhost:631, the device URI should look like this:

serial:/dev/ttyUSB0?baud=115200+bits=8+parity=none+flow=hard

Although your serial port device file would be different if you're
using a real serial port instead of a USB->serial adapter. The device
URI can be verified and edited in /etc/cups/printers.conf. Restart
cups after editing that file.

The sipixa6.upp file is required and is included with ghostscript-gpl
which should be pulled in by foomatic-filters which should be pulled
in by foomatic-filters-ppds.

- Grant

On Mon, 8 Feb 2010 13:03:19 -0800, Grant wrote:

> 2. I'm using a USB->serial converter and I get a permissions error
> when trying to print unless I chmod /dev/ttyUSB0. The file shows up
> before chmod as:
>
> crw-rw---- 1 root uucp
>
> The problem with chmod is it resets after unplug/plug. My user is in
> the uucp group. How can I enable printing after unplug/plug without
> chmod?

That looks like it should work, but you can change the permissions or
ownership with a udev rule.


--
Neil Bothwick

Artificial Intelligence usually beats real stupidity.